Interview with the Bulgarian Minister of Interior Mr. Tsvetan Tsvetanov on the State of Turkish Minority in Bulgaria and MRF

As part of a field study named as “Understanding of Turkish Minority by Bulgarian Elites”, Muzaffer Vatansever, expert on the Balkans at Center for EU Studies at USAK, conducted an interview with Bulgarian Minister of Interior, Mr. Tsvetan Tsvetanov in Sofia, on 28th of May, 2010 for Journal of Turkish Weekly. The Minister Tsvetanov discussed the recent developments on Turkish-Bulgarian bilateral relations. Besides, the state of Turkish Minority in Bulgaria and the role MRF (Movement for Rights and Freedoms, known as an ethnic Turkish political party) during the process after 1990s was largely commented.

In order to prevent the misunderstanding and to make the statements clear, it will be apt to mention briefly about the methods of the interview and to give some details regarding the usage of the word “minority”.
First of all, the interview was a face-to-face meeting in which a series of questions were asked and recorded in tape. The language was in English, however, the Minister Tsvetanov spoke in Bulgarian and then the whole conversation was translated by the official interpreter of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior, Mirella Bachvarova. After the interview, it was transcribed exactly what was said during the interview and compared with the written-notes that were taken by the interviewer. Lastly, the written copy of the interview was shared with Mrs. Bachvarova in order to make sure that they agree with and affirm the contents of the interview.
Secondly, although there are several ethnic minority groups in Bulgaria, (mainly the Bulgarian Turks and Roma) the term “minority” is quite controversial and not used in official statements. In pursuant to the Bulgarian Constitution, these minority groups were not adopted as “national minority”; instead they were recognised as “Bulgarian citizens”. In the context of this study, “Turkish minority” term was largely used during the meeting both by the interpreter and interviewer for practical concerns. However, the term “minority” should be read as “Bulgarian citizens with Turkish origins” in that sense.


Q: How do you evaluate the minority policy of Bulgaria?

The policy of Bulgaria is not different from the policy of the EU. The minorities have the chance to be a part of the all political parties in the country. And one of the biggest parties in this respect, during the last twenty years that we have, is the special party that is called MRF, the Movement for Rights and Liberties. As you know, it is largely represented in political life in Bulgaria from the very beginning. But, not only this party, also the other parties have a lot of members and supporters from the minority groups in the country. So, our policy is not different from the policy of all other countries in the well established democracies.

Q: What has changed in Bulgaria from 1990s up to now? What is the role of the EU in this regard?

Regardless whether it is an EU member or not, there are not too many changes in terms of the regional policy of Bulgaria. In comparison between the policy of 1990s and the contemporary era, today we have a lot more joint initiatives with our neighbouring countries because, the development of the relations between our countries in the region includes too many very serious and substantial projects related with infrastructure, energy, road infrastructure, tourism etc. In other words, they are very serious projects and very serious issues in terms of common interests.

Regarding the relations with Turkey, I can say that, in the last few months, the new Bulgarian government has been holding a very dynamic dialogue with Turkey. And one of the outcomes of that was the official visit of the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Borisov, to Turkey in January. I attended this visit as part of the Bulgarian delegation being the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior. Consequently, I had the opportunity and was honoured to be part of the Bulgarian delegation during the meeting between the two Prime Ministers. I also had a bilateral meeting with my counterpart, my colleague, the Turkish Minister of Interior, Besir Atalay which was extremely useful and very efficient. Besides, just two weeks ago, I returned from Antalya. There was a meeting about the Disaster and Emergency Management in the context of the Turkish chairmanship of the South Eastern European Cooperation Process (SEECP). Being the current chair of the SEECP, Turkey was the host country. During this event, I had the opportunity to meet the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Cicek. In fact, it seems to me that by solving our bilateral issues, we are able to impact the region in all issues of cooperation. We have common interests in the whole region. In a similar way, we also have a very dynamic dialogue with our other neighbours such as Greece, Romania, Macedonia, and Serbia. We maintain very close cooperation with them and a very good dialogue which is also able to influence the whole region and all other countries in terms of creating common benefits.

To confirm my words regarding the good relations between Turkey and Bulgaria, I would like to mention that there are a lot of Turkish investors in Bulgaria. There is a very good exchange of trade/commerce between the two countries. There are so many things we can do together and we have to do. With this perspective of friendship and cooperation being neighbouring countries, we have common benefits and we have to use them. For example, a lot of Bulgarian citizens prefer to go to Turkey for tourism. Turkish people are very hospitable. You are very pleased when you hear the word “komsu”.

Q: Do you think that Bulgaria’s relations with Turkey have improved from 1990s until present? What were the factors that made this improvement possible? And what are the difficulties in bilateral relations?

It is clear that there is a great improvement of the relations and cooperation between two countries after 1990s. One of the main prerequisites of this improvement was that we became part of one and the same organization/bloc in the world politics, which is called NATO. As you know, with the end of the Warsaw Treaty and the cease of existence of the communist regime in the South East European countries, they had the opportunity to be NATO members, like Turkey. So this was a common perspective for all the countries in the region as well as for Bulgaria. This helped a lot to create a proper ground for cooperation between Turkey and Bulgaria.

In terms of difficulties in bilateral relations, in the past, there was an artificial contradiction between the two countries; artificially created boundaries. However, they do not exist anymore.

Q: Do you think the Turkish minority in Bulgaria has had a positive or negative impact on the relations between Bulgaria and Turkey, or it has played neutral?

After 1990s, the role of the Turkish minority was positive. Pursuant to the new constitution adopted by the Bulgarian Grand National Assembly, we have guaranteed the rights and liberties of all Bulgarian citizens; no matter where they live, in which part of the world. I can say that, I have talked to such citizens, as you know they are Bulgarian citizens with Turkish origins, who have left Bulgaria for some reasons; however they remember Bulgaria with nostalgia and very positive feelings. So now, the possibility for Bulgarians from the mixed regions to travel to Turkey, and vice-versa (Turkish people’s visits to Bulgaria), creates another reason to overcome the obstacles which were experienced in the past.

Q: What is the role of DPS in this process?

The role of this political party was that the citizens in these mixed regions use their constitutional rights and votes; then they give their preferences to a certain political party and most of them in fact have chosen this certain political party. MFR, from the historical point of view, has really helped to avoid any ethnic conflicts and any ethnic contradictions in the country. They have participated; alongside with the all political parties in the Bulgarian Parliament, in the preparations to join NATO and the EU and they have supported this process like all other political parties. So, they made a certain contribution in that sense.

As you know, MRF participated in the governance of the country in two mandates. In fact during these eight years, they were part of the top government of the country. However, in recent times, there is a feeling that certain political circles in the country are corrupt including that party. In fact, there are certain suspicions and certain signals about the issue related to some of the members of MRF. However, we are a democratic society and the law is for everyone and everyone is equal before the law. No matter what political parties do against the law; they have to bear their responsibility. But, of course, every political party has members who are common people, hardworking and very modest in their daily life; and then they are not guilty. They have no fault.

Today, as the ruling political party GERB, we have created the opportunity for many Bulgarian people including those supporters of DPS to vote for GERB not only for DPS. Therefore, they have the chance to change their perspective.

As a final word, in the past, there was a feeling in the public that “the only contact, the only crossing point between Bulgaria and Turkey, the only link is that political party, MRF.” So, this was one of the focal points of the discussions between the Bulgarian Prime Minister and the Turkish Prime Minister; and the Bulgarian Prime Minister and the Turkish President during the meetings in the end of January. It was said that “Bulgaria and Turkey should maintain their contacts between the two governments and the two parliaments. They do not need any mediators in the face of any political party whatsoever.” So, this is very important in terms of the political infrastructure between our two countries and for the projects that we have created which are very important for geostrategic reasons for Europe, for Asia and for the all countries which are in the Balkans and have a role somewhere in these very important projects.

For correspondence of the irterviewer, Muzaffer Vatansever, mvatansever@usak.org.tr
USAK, Center for EU Studies